Mbappé stands up to the sponsors

Paris, 25 Mar Kylian Mbappé arrives in a Volkswagen to the French national football team rally, in the picturesque castle of Clairefontaine. As soon as he crosses its walls, he dresses in the official “uniform”, which shows off the Orange and EDF logos. So far, no problem. The conflict arises when the player must lend their image to other brands, whose values they do not agree with: Coca Cola, KFC or Belin represent fast food that contrasts with the campaign that the striker runs with his association Inspired by KM to promote a balanced diet among adolescents. In his opinion, BetClic, an internet bookmaker, causes major problems among young people in the most modest neighborhoods of the country, such as his native Bondy, a dormitory city on the outskirts of Paris. Coca Cola, KFC, Belin and BetClic are second-row sponsors of the French national team, which gives them the right to have the image of the players called by Didier Deschamps. But Mbappé, who has already shown that he pays peculiar attention to his image, refuses to go. Some of those brands knocked on Mbappé's door with important checks, worth more than 6 million euros, but they were met with the football player's rejection. The solution? To have their image through the national team, with whom they signed contracts of 1.5 million euros that allowed them to count on the Parisian footballer. To avoid this shortcut, Mbappé has been asking, in vain, for months to be able to participate in the election of sponsors. In the face of the silence of the French Football Federation (FFF), the rope had to be tightened, and this week the national star refused to participate in actions with any of those brands. The player's ban caused enormous displeasure in some of the sponsors, who have invested large amounts in those contracts. This is the case of Orange, the telecommunications operator who is not a problem for Mbappé, but who paid for the broken dishes. The player's lawyer, Delphine Verheyden, has been warning of this discontent for months. For her, the convention that the footballer signed in March 2017, during his first call with the national team, is wet paper. Like the rest of the internationals, Mbappé signed this text, created after the 2010 World Cup, for which each footballer receives 25,000 euros per game with the “bleus”. In exchange, the FFF can sell its image to sponsors. The agreement with them includes that each brand can use three players, with the idea that it is rotated. However, the name of Mbappé is almost always included in his requests, as are those of Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba. They are faces that sell. The one with the Parisian, more and more every day. CHARITABLE OPERATIONS The player, through his representatives, points out that he does not want any more money. Everything that is pocketed from the Federation is donated to charitable associations. For Mbappé, the problem is that his image is associated with brands with which he is not satisfied. A policy that you apply to your own business, in which unlike other players who multiply sponsorships, you sell them on a drop account. In this way, the player, who has agreements with Nike, the Hublot watch brand or the video game developer EA Sports, avoids devaluing his image and secures more lucrative contracts. And, at the same time, it seeks to ensure that the sponsors are in line with their way of life, say their representatives. “I spend most of my time filtering the demands of sponsors (...) to find those that are unusual but expensive,” his lawyer told L'Équipe a few months ago. The footballer agreed to endorse the children's food brand Good Goût or the Japanese brand of men's beauty products Bulk. But that collaboration only lasted a few months. The control of his image also seems to be an argument that will weigh on the signing of his future contract. When he signed a five-year agreement with PSG in 2017, he gave his image to the club. Over time, as his star stature has grown, he has gained weight in choosing which PSG sponsors he wants to partner with. Whether he renews or signs for another club, Mbappé demands that, from now on, his image be his own, something that only the big stars, such as Argentina's Lionel Messi, can afford. Everyone in Paris has understood this and allowing him to maintain his image rights will not be an obstacle if he finally wants to continue his adventure on the banks of the Seine. Luis Miguel Pascual